Meaning

noun a severe or trying experience

noun a primitive method of determining a person's guilt or innocence by subjecting the accused person to dangerous or painful tests believed to be under divine control; escape was usually taken as a sign o

originFrom Middle English ordel, ordal, from Medieval Latin ordālium or inherited from its source Old English ordēl, ordāl (“ordeal, judgement”), from Proto-West Germanic *uʀdailī (“judgement”, literally “an out-dealing”), from *uʀdailijan (“to deal out; dispense”). For more, see Old English or-, English deal. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Uurdeel (“judgement; verdict”), West Frisian oardiel…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0